Elections, Candidates, and Voting

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about a lot of different things, and I’ve decided to speak out on some of them.  Since we are involved in a huge election cycle, let’s start with politics.  Speaking strictly as a journalist, it doesn’t really matter to me which candidate wins in any race, be they democrat or republican, liberal or conservative.

However, as a concerned citizen that happens to publish an online newspaper with a growing readership, I can remain silent no longer on some issues, races, and candidates, and feel the need to speak for We the People.  While I’m sure this first issue is happening in many states and races, I am horrified that there are several races happening in my state of Florida where some candidates have either directly stated that they won’t engage in debates with their primary opponents, or seem to conveniently not be able fit these critical debates into their schedules.

Here’s what I think about that.  I vote and I believe that every candidate for every seat owes it to me and every other voter to show their face at every, or at least a majority of the primary debates for the seats they seek.  It doesn’t matter to me if the race is for the US Senate, the Florida Senate, US Congress, or any of the dozens of local races.  And I especially don’t give a damn if they have a famous name and/or the endorsements of prominent current and former elected officials.  In many cases, some of the endorsements come from people I have little or no respect for in the first place.

At the end of the day, We the People of the combined grassroots and the no longer silent majority have been screaming from the mountaintops that we want transparency in government, real leadership, and men and women of integrity to lead us and to do OUR bidding; not THEIRS or the party they represent!!   

Instead, it’s business as usual and I see qualified candidates being overlooked by the 'bosses’ in favor of what they consider to be 'electable’ candidates.  I might be simply naïve, but I thought We the People were supposed to decide who is electable or not?  Why do party bosses in both parties get to decide who We the People get to choose?  Why do we always have to go to the polls and hold our noses while voting?

Back to the debates for a minute; almost a year ago I was honored to be asked by the Tea Party to moderate a US Senate Forum up in Daytona.  Most of the leading candidates of the time in that race were present.  A couple of them were not available and offered sufficient time and reasons for their absence.  Those that were present stood on that stage and answered all 17 of our tough questions and then several from the audience.  I might add, I don’t believe in taking it easy on those running for office, and every one of the simple questions were hard balls delivered by my hand picked panel; and to their credit, each of the candidates stood there and faced the music.

To the best of my knowledge, only two of those candidates are still in the Senate race; Col. Mike McCalister and Marielena Stuart; and both of them have been in the trenches for a long time.  However, shortly after the holidays, a brand name career politician jumped into this race with all sorts of endorsements from lots of other brand name politicians that I’ve mostly come to hold in contempt for not doing the will of We the People, and he is now supposedly leading in the polls because of those endorsements and in spite of the fact that he refused to go head to head before the primary election with those that have been in the game for over a year now.  

Incredibly, another lesser known name brand candidate jumped in only a few months ago, and he is now considered the option to 'Mr. Big Name Brand’ as if the others that have been slugging it out since the beginning never even existed.  It’s absolutely stunning to me that this exists; We the People don’t get a real choice because 'they’ don’t think anyone but 'their’ choice is electable or can beat Senator Nelson.  

Let me say this, I’m a staunch, dyed in the wool, unapologetic conservative and I therefore do not like the Obama supporting policies and positions of Senator Nelson.  However he is not to be under-estimated and I believe that he will wipe the floor with anything less than a strong man like Mike McCalister as his opponent.  The Nelson camp has already started running ads concerning the playboy antics of 'Mr. Big Name Brand,’ and as surely as I don’t want to see Senator Nelson retain that seat, I absolutely do not wish to be represented by a party boy married to the ghost of Sonny Bono. 

On the state level, there is a senate seat that is also being contested in the primaries.  A certain sitting state senator has been dodging her challenger, Mr. Mike Lameyer, throughout the campaign.  For reasons I cannot fathom, she also has the strong support of 'them.’  She used to be a democrat, and to this day her voting record falls in line with a very liberal democrat agenda.  She voted for the very unpopular high speed rail, voted to expand gambling, squashed an open carry provision bill, voted against 'e’ verify, voted to give reduced tuition to illegals, and the list goes on and on.  

Her opponent is a very outspoken guy.  He’s a former Marine, successful businessman, commercial pilot, certified firearms instructor, and overall a very bright man.  He gets no support from the bosses because of his, in my opinion, very direct no nonsense outspokenness.  Whenever he takes to a stage or he is met in person, he can rattle off facts and figures, costs, impacts, and everything else that a candidate should know and be concerned about.  It is for these reasons and more that I believe the incumbent has been scared to death to debate him, and I believe Mike Lameyer deserves our consideration and votes.

The last race/issue I’ll talk about today is that for Palm Beach County Sheriff.  There are three men in this race; incumbent Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Mr. Joe Talley, and Mr. Claymore Walker.

Sheriff Bradshaw and Mr. Talley both have strong police backgrounds and are both well qualified to hold the office.  Among their many differences are their views on the department’s budget which has gone up markedly since Sheriff Bradshaw took command, and he has refused to open the books to the Inspector General which is raising a lot of eyebrows.  The department is also rife with cronyism and is said to be run with a very heavy hand.

Among other things, Mr. Talley would welcome the IG, garner National Accreditation, offer more community accessibility, and improve over-all efficiency within the department.  

Essentially, it comes down to who you believe and trust between the two of them.  I will not rail on the incumbent in any way, however my personal choice in that race is Mr. Joe Talley and I urge my readers to consider and vote for him.

At this point I will make a plea to the third candidate, Mr. Walker.  Sir, we met briefly; I’ve heard you speak and am familiar with your story.  I believe you to be a good, decent, and honest man that is concerned about the community, but you possess absolutely no police experience or qualifications for this position.  Indeed, while there is nothing wrong with driving a truck to earn a living; that is what you do and I’m sure you are good at it.

Realizing that you garnered around 10,000 votes during the last election cycle, I will lean on that and ask you to recognize and understand that you cannot win and all you will accomplish with your run is to become a spoiler in this race for either of the vastly more qualified candidates, and we may very well end up with the same as we have which you are against.  I ask that you look deep within yourself and realize that the very best and only right thing you can do for the community is to exit the race and allow your friends and family to choose between the two other very qualified candidates.

There is a lot more on my mind, and I’ll be sharing much of it over the coming weeks.  In the meantime, I would like to thank all of our readers for your continuing support.